An electric molecular motor

Long Zhang; Yunyan Qiu; Wei-Guang Liu; Hongliang Chen; Dengke Shen; Bo Song; Kang Cai; Huang Wu; Yang Jiao; Yuanning Feng; James S W Seale; Cristian Pezzato; Jia Tian; Yu Tan; Xiao-Yang Chen; Qing-Hui Guo; Charlotte L Stern; Douglas Philp; R Dean Astumian; William A Goddard; J Fraser Stoddart

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6

An electric molecular motor

Long Zhang^*, Yunyan Qiu, Wei-Guang Liu, Hongliang Chen, Dengke Shen, Bo Song, Kang Cai, Huang Wu, Yang Jiao, Yuanning Feng, James S W Seale, Cristian Pezzato, Jia Tian, Yu Tan, Xiao-Yang Chen, Qing-Hui Guo, Charlotte L Stern, Douglas Philp, R Dean Astumian^*, William A Goddard^*J Fraser Stoddart^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Macroscopic electric motors continue to have a large impact on almost every aspect of modern society. Consequently, the effort towards developing molecular motors that can be driven by electricity could not be more timely. Here we describe an electric molecular motor based on a [3]catenane , in which two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT⁴⁺) rings are powered by electricity in solution to circumrotate unidirectionally around a 50-membered loop. The constitution of the loop ensures that both rings undergo highly (85%) unidirectional movement under the guidance of a flashing energy ratchet , whereas the interactions between the two rings give rise to a two-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) similar to that shown by F₀F₁ATP synthase . The unidirectionality is powered by an oscillating voltage or external modulation of the redox potential . Initially, we focused our attention on the homologous [2]catenane, only to find that the kinetic asymmetry was insufficient to support unidirectional movement of the sole ring. Accordingly, we incorporated a second CBPQT⁴⁺ ring to provide further symmetry breaking by interactions between the two mobile rings. This demonstration of electrically driven continual circumrotatory motion of two rings around a loop in a [3]catenane is free from the production of waste products and represents an important step towards surface-bound electric molecular motors.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	280-286
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature
Volume	613
Issue number	7943
Early online date	11 Jan 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6
Publication status	Published - 12 Jan 2023

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Zhang, L., Qiu, Y., Liu, W.-G., Chen, H., Shen, D., Song, B., Cai, K., Wu, H., Jiao, Y., Feng, Y., Seale, J. S. W., Pezzato, C., Tian, J., Tan, Y., Chen, X.-Y., Guo, Q.-H., Stern, C. L., Philp, D., Astumian, R. D., ... Stoddart, J. F. (2023). An electric molecular motor. Nature, 613(7943), 280-286. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6

@article{5195e8972419432383e9557f2d1589d7,

title = "An electric molecular motor",

abstract = "Macroscopic electric motors continue to have a large impact on almost every aspect of modern society. Consequently, the effort towards developing molecular motors that can be driven by electricity could not be more timely. Here we describe an electric molecular motor based on a [3]catenane , in which two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT4+) rings are powered by electricity in solution to circumrotate unidirectionally around a 50-membered loop. The constitution of the loop ensures that both rings undergo highly (85%) unidirectional movement under the guidance of a flashing energy ratchet , whereas the interactions between the two rings give rise to a two-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) similar to that shown by F0F1ATP synthase . The unidirectionality is powered by an oscillating voltage or external modulation of the redox potential . Initially, we focused our attention on the homologous [2]catenane, only to find that the kinetic asymmetry was insufficient to support unidirectional movement of the sole ring. Accordingly, we incorporated a second CBPQT4+ ring to provide further symmetry breaking by interactions between the two mobile rings. This demonstration of electrically driven continual circumrotatory motion of two rings around a loop in a [3]catenane is free from the production of waste products and represents an important step towards surface-bound electric molecular motors.",

author = "Long Zhang and Yunyan Qiu and Wei-Guang Liu and Hongliang Chen and Dengke Shen and Bo Song and Kang Cai and Huang Wu and Yang Jiao and Yuanning Feng and Seale, {James S W} and Cristian Pezzato and Jia Tian and Yu Tan and Xiao-Yang Chen and Qing-Hui Guo and Stern, {Charlotte L} and Douglas Philp and Astumian, {R Dean} and Goddard, {William A} and Stoddart, {J Fraser}",

note = "Funding: The computational investigations at California Institute of Technology were supported by National Science Foundation grant no. CBET-2005250 (W.-G.L. and W.A.G.).",

year = "2023",

month = jan,

day = "12",

doi = "10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6",

language = "English",

volume = "613",

pages = "280--286",

journal = "Nature",

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Zhang, L, Qiu, Y, Liu, W-G, Chen, H, Shen, D, Song, B, Cai, K, Wu, H, Jiao, Y, Feng, Y, Seale, JSW, Pezzato, C, Tian, J, Tan, Y, Chen, X-Y, Guo, Q-H, Stern, CL, Philp, D, Astumian, RD, Goddard, WA & Stoddart, JF 2023, 'An electric molecular motor', Nature, vol. 613, no. 7943, pp. 280-286. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05421-6

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T1 - An electric molecular motor

AU - Zhang, Long

AU - Qiu, Yunyan

AU - Liu, Wei-Guang

AU - Chen, Hongliang

AU - Shen, Dengke

AU - Song, Bo

AU - Cai, Kang

AU - Wu, Huang

AU - Jiao, Yang

AU - Feng, Yuanning

AU - Seale, James S W

AU - Pezzato, Cristian

AU - Tian, Jia

AU - Tan, Yu

AU - Chen, Xiao-Yang

AU - Guo, Qing-Hui

AU - Stern, Charlotte L

AU - Philp, Douglas

AU - Astumian, R Dean

AU - Goddard, William A

AU - Stoddart, J Fraser

N1 - Funding: The computational investigations at California Institute of Technology were supported by National Science Foundation grant no. CBET-2005250 (W.-G.L. and W.A.G.).

PY - 2023/1/12

Y1 - 2023/1/12

N2 - Macroscopic electric motors continue to have a large impact on almost every aspect of modern society. Consequently, the effort towards developing molecular motors that can be driven by electricity could not be more timely. Here we describe an electric molecular motor based on a [3]catenane , in which two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT4+) rings are powered by electricity in solution to circumrotate unidirectionally around a 50-membered loop. The constitution of the loop ensures that both rings undergo highly (85%) unidirectional movement under the guidance of a flashing energy ratchet , whereas the interactions between the two rings give rise to a two-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) similar to that shown by F0F1ATP synthase . The unidirectionality is powered by an oscillating voltage or external modulation of the redox potential . Initially, we focused our attention on the homologous [2]catenane, only to find that the kinetic asymmetry was insufficient to support unidirectional movement of the sole ring. Accordingly, we incorporated a second CBPQT4+ ring to provide further symmetry breaking by interactions between the two mobile rings. This demonstration of electrically driven continual circumrotatory motion of two rings around a loop in a [3]catenane is free from the production of waste products and represents an important step towards surface-bound electric molecular motors.

AB - Macroscopic electric motors continue to have a large impact on almost every aspect of modern society. Consequently, the effort towards developing molecular motors that can be driven by electricity could not be more timely. Here we describe an electric molecular motor based on a [3]catenane , in which two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT4+) rings are powered by electricity in solution to circumrotate unidirectionally around a 50-membered loop. The constitution of the loop ensures that both rings undergo highly (85%) unidirectional movement under the guidance of a flashing energy ratchet , whereas the interactions between the two rings give rise to a two-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) similar to that shown by F0F1ATP synthase . The unidirectionality is powered by an oscillating voltage or external modulation of the redox potential . Initially, we focused our attention on the homologous [2]catenane, only to find that the kinetic asymmetry was insufficient to support unidirectional movement of the sole ring. Accordingly, we incorporated a second CBPQT4+ ring to provide further symmetry breaking by interactions between the two mobile rings. This demonstration of electrically driven continual circumrotatory motion of two rings around a loop in a [3]catenane is free from the production of waste products and represents an important step towards surface-bound electric molecular motors.

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An electric molecular motor

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CCDC 2168726: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

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An electric molecular motor

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CCDC 2168726: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

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